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Nirbhay Missile launch next month :DRDO

India's Nirbhay cruise weapon will be tested in February, DRDO chief Dr V.K. Saraswat said at a press conference last week in Bangalore. This is the first time in over a year that a definite time-frame has been provided on the mysterious programme. Last checked, the missile was to have been tested in July-August 2012.

As I've earlier reported, this will be, without a doubt, the most significant weapon test since, perhaps, the Agni-III. The Nirbhay, shrouded in secrecy for long, is understood to be a two-stage high subsonic cruise missile with loitering capabilities. Sources suggest that apart from the engine (apparently supplied by NPO Saturn), the rest of the system is fully indigenous.

India launched K-15 SLBM

India's DRDO today conducted the 11th successful underwater test of the K-15 medium range subsurface-launched ballistic missile from the Bay of Bengal. Sources on board one of the Indian Navy ships monitoring the launch report that the launch was a successful one. The launch took place from a special R-glass cannister from a specially configured underwater pontoon launch platform. The K-15,officially designated B-05, with a range in excess of 750-km (its official range is classified) is the submarine-launched version of the land-launched Shourya that has been tested four times so far. The country's Arihant-class SSBNs will be able to deploy 12 K-15s or four of the much longer range K-4 missiles, still under development.

Official statement by DRDO: DRDO developed underwater launched missile B05 was successfully flight tested on 27 Jan 2013 from Bay of Bengal off the coast of Visakhapatnam. The missile launched from a pontoon, was tested for the full range and met all the mission objectives. All the parameters of the vehicle were monitored by the radar all through the trajectory and terminal events have taken place exactly as expected. Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri Dr VK Saraswat congratulated all the scientists, technicians of DRDO on the successful flight test. Defence Minister AK Antony congratulated all the scientists for successful launch of B05.

PHOTOS: First Ever India-China Naval Exercise

On completion of the four day visit to Shanghai, INS Shivalik and PLA(N) Ma'anshan conducted passage exercises comprising naval manouevers, communication exercises and cross deck helicopter landings.

Sunita Williams, 2 astronauts return to Earth from ISS

Record-setting Indian- American Sunita Williams along with two fellow astronauts safely returned to Earth on Monday from the International Space Station, touching down on the steppes of central Kazakhstan, after spending four months in orbit.

It was a perfect landing for Williams and two astronauts, Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide, as they touched down in the dark, chilly expanses of central Kazakhstan on board a Russian Soyuz capsule.

The three astronauts landed at 0726 IST in the town of Arkalyk.

Helicopters rushed with the search-and-recovery crew to assist them, as their capsule parachuted down some 35 kilometres from the planned touchdown site due to a procedural delay.

Another three astronauts remain on board the International Space Station (ISS) and will return next year.

Earlier, the trio bid farewell to their fellow astronauts at the ISS, Flight Engineers Kevin Ford, Evgeny Tarelkin and Oleg Novitskiy.

The trio undocked from the Rassvet module of the ISS on Sunday.

The return of Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko has wrapped up a 127-day space journey for them, since their launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 15, this year, including 125 days spent aboard the ISS.

Williams, 47, now has spent a total of 322 days in space during her two long-duration missions. She previously served aboard the ISS as an Expedition 14/15 flight engineer from December 9, 2006, to June 22, 2007.

Williams now also holds the record for spacewalking time for female astronauts.

Williams has a total of 50 hours and 40 minutes of spacewalking time over seven spacewalks, including the three she conducted during Expeditions 32 and 33.

This was the second trip into space for Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, who visited the station as an STS-124 mission specialist aboard space shuttle Discovery in 2008.

Russian Soyuz Commander Malenchenko wrapped up his fifth spaceflight for a total of 642 days in space, placing him seventh on the all-time endurance list.

NASA TV will air its post-landing video file, including interviews with the crew, later.

The undocking signals the end of Expedition 33 and the start of Expedition 34 under the command of Ford, who will remain on the station with Novitskiy and Tarelkin until March.

Williams transferred the helm of the orbiting laboratory to Ford during a change of command ceremony on Saturday.

Three additional Expedition 34 flight engineers -- NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Roman Romanenko -- are scheduled to launch from Baikonur on December 19 and dock to the station two days later for a five-month stay.

Hadfield will become the first Canadian to command the station when Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin depart, marking the start of Expedition 35.

The Soyuz remains the only means for international astronauts to reach the orbiting laboratory since the decommissioning of the US shuttle fleet in 2011.

DRDO Statement: India today successfully test fired its most advanced long range missile system, the Agni-IV. The missile was launched from a road mobile launcher at 9AM from Wheelers’ Island off the coast of Odisha. The missile followed its trajectory, attained a height of about 900-km (??) and reached the pre-designated target in international waters of the Bay of Bengal. All mission objectives were fully met. All systems functioned perfectly till the end encountering re-entry temperatures of more than 3000⁰C.

This missile is one of its kind, proving many new technologies for the first time, and represents a quantum leap in terms of missile technology. The missile is lighter in weight and has two stages of solid propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield. The composite rocket motor which has been used for the first time performed flawlessly. The missile system is equipped with modern and compact avionics with redundancy to provide a high level of reliability. The indigenous Ring Laser Gyros based high accuracy INS (RINS) and micro-navigation system (MINGS) complementing each other in redundant mode have been successfully flown in guidance mode for the first time. The high performance onboard computer with distributed avionics architecture, high speed reliable communication bus and a full Digital Control System controlled and guided the Agni-IV to the target. The missile has reached the target with very high level of accuracy. Radars and electro-optical systems along the coast of Odisha tracked and monitored all parameters of the missile test. Two Indian Naval ships located near the target witnessed and recorded the final event.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the DRDO team on its achievement. Avinash Chander, Distinguished Scientist & Chief Controller (Missiles & Strategic Systems) at DRDO and Programme Director, AGNI addressed his team after the launch, and called today's test the beginning of "a new era in modern Long Range Navigation Systems". He said, “this test has paved the way ahead for the success of AGNI-5 Mission, which will be launched shortly."

Agni-IV Project Director Ms Tessy Thomas and her team prepared and integrated the missile system and launched the Agni-IV successfully today. An ecstatic Ms Thomas said today that the DRDO had produced and proven many new state of the art technologies with the Agni-IV like composite rocket motors, very high accuracy Ring Laser Gyro based Inertial Navigation System, Micro Navigation System, Digital Controller System and very powerful onboard computer system. The Agni-IV can deliver strategic warheads, and will be produced in large numbers for delivery to India's nuclear command.

India's Agni-II was launched successfully today at 9:30AM from the Eastern seaboard. According to a DRDO statement, "The successful launch once again proved reliability of the medium range surface to surface missile." The 2000-km range surface to surface missile, already inducted and part of countries arsenal for strategic deterrence, was launched as a training exercise by the country's nuclear command. The missile reached an apogee (peak altitude) of 220-km and hit the target. All the radar, telemetry systems, ectopic system tracked & monitored all parameters throughout the trajectory. Two ships located near the target point have tracked the missile in the final stage.

India successfully flight-tested its nuclear capable surface-to-surface 'Shourya' missile from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from here, Saturday.

'Shourya' can carry a one tonne nuclear and conventional warhead over 700 kms and is powered by two-stage solid fuel.

The state-of-the-art missile is equipped with multiple advanced computing systems, very high accuracy navigation and guidance systems, defence sources here said.

"The trial of the missile, which took off from Launch Complex-III of ITR at 1430 hrs, was fully successful," ITR Director S P Dash said.

The missile was flight tested from a canister in a ground launch mode. "The launch was perfect like in text book and followed the path exactly to the predefined target," he said.

All radar, telemetry and electro optical stations along the east coast have tracked and monitored all the mission parameters, Dash said.

Ships located near the target have also tracked and witnessed the flight test and the missile reached the target within few meters accuracy, a defence official said.

The defence official said the sophisticated missile combines simplicity of operation with low maintenance. It can be easily handled, transported and stored in the canister for longer shelf life.

The high manoeuvrability of the missile makes it less vulnerable to available anti-missile defence systems.

"We have designed 'Shourya' missile in such a way that it can be launched from under water as easily as from land.

The gas-filled canister that houses the missile fits easily into a submarine. The underwater leg of the nuclear trial needs to be totally reliable and needs a state-of-the-art missile," said a scientist associated with the project.

DRDO chief controller Avinash Chander congratulated the scientists and employees of the organisation and other establishments for the successful test flight.

As a safety measure, prior to the test, Balasore district administration had temporarily evacuated 400 families residing within 2 km radius of the launch pad to nearby shelter camps early this morning, official sources said.

Strengthening its combat support capabilities, Indian Navy will induct its second Italy-made fleet tanker, INS Shakti, in Vishakhapatnam on October 1.

INS Shakti, the second of the Deepak Class fleet tanker constructed by Italian Fincantieri Shipyard, will be handed over to the Navy on Friday and will be commissioned in operational service on October 1, Navy officials said here.

The first tanker christened INS Deepak was commissioned into the Navy in Mumbai on January 21 this year.

INS Shakti will be the second fleet tanker to be inducted into the Eastern fleet and will help in strengthening combat support operations at sea and extend the reach of the naval power of the nation.

With the induction of the warship, the Navy will have two each fleet tankers on both the seaboards.

Though INS Shakti is essentially a tanker, it is a thoughtfully-designed and versatile platform capable of a large number of roles. In addition to its traditional role of supplying fuel to ships at sea, the ship is also capable of transporting and supplying ammunitions, materials and provisions.

The vessel is also capable of undertaking humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations with its modern medical health facilities.

The ship is one of the largest vessels of the navy, 175 metres long, 25 metres wide and has a full load displacement of 27,000 tonnes.

The two Deepak class fleet tankers will be the mainstay tankers/ support ships of the Indian Navy in the first half of the 21st century.

Each ship is equipped with four AK-630 guns for close defence supplies and high-tech fire control system supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited.

General characteristics
Class and type:	Deepak-class tanker
Displacement:	19150 tons(light condition), 27,000 tons ( Maximum)
Length:	175 m
Beam:	25 m
Draft:	9.1 m ( Max )
Depth:	19.3 m
Decks:	10
Installed power:	9.3 MW
Propulsion:	Diesel Engines ( 02 ) from MAN and one CPP
Speed:	20 knots
Endurance:	10000 nm at 20 knots
Complement:	180 sailors and 20 officers

Boeing is close to conducting the first flight of a 737-800-based P-8I maritime patrol aircraft for the Indian navy, with it's first example having emerged at the manufacturer’s Renton Field assembly site in Washington.

Photographed by AirSpace user Brandon Farris earlier this month, the aircraft has already been painted in Indian markings and assigned the registration IN320. It is the first of eight P-8Is on order as replacements for the navy’s current Tupolev Tu-142 turboprops. The aircraft was last pictured as it entered final assembly in June.

Derived from the P-8A Poseidon now in development testing for the US Navy, India’s next-generation maritime surveillance aircraft will enter use from early 2013.

India’s examples will differ from the USN’s aircraft through the addition of a belly-mounted radar, which once combined with other sensors will afford the aircraft a 360° surveillance capability against airborne targets.
Another key piece of equipment for the P-8I will be its Raytheon Mk54 lightweight torpedoes. New Delhi signed an $86 million deal in June for an initial 32 of the weapons.

Boeing performed the first flight of a production P-8A for the USN from Renton Field in July. India is the first and so for lone export buyer for the 737 derivative. Test and acceptance activities will be performed from Boeing’s Seattle Field site in Washington.

Work on Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is 85 per cent complete and it is set to enter the sea next month for trials.

A high level Indian Navy delegation led by Vice Admiral Niranjan Kumar, which visited Russia’s Sevmash shipyard to inspect the refurbishing work on the naval vessel, has “expressed satisfaction”, the shipyard said.

“The readiness of the ship is already more than 85 percent,” Kumar said, expressing hope that the Russian shipyard would complete the remaining work so that the ship could be commissioned in December 2012.

President of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation Roman Trotsenko assured that the final stage of modernisation will be conducted with “great care” and with attention to quality.

“Today, the works are on schedule... I am sure that in December 2012, the ship will be delivered to the customer,” the Russian official said.

The Russian craft, named Admiral Gorshkov, which India is buying at a cost of around $2.33 billion, began mooring trials in March this year.

The 45,000-tonne warship is expected to be commissioned in the Indian Navy by 2012 or early 2013 and will be rechristened as INS Vikramaditya.

Meanwhile, a team of Indian Navy personnel which was in St. Petersburg, Russia has completed a six-month training on the refurbished vessel. The first group of 152 sailors and officers had begun their training in April.

A second batch of personnel would arrive in Russia next month to receive training, the shipyard said, adding that more than 1000 crew members will be trained by 2012.

The fifth of the six C-130J Super Hercules, an advanced transport aircraft, ordered by the Indian Air Force has been delivered, its American manufacturer Lockheed Martin said.

The aircraft departed the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta yesterday.

“This aircraft, like its predecessors, was delivered well ahead of schedule and is now en route to Hindan Hindan Air Force Station in India,” Lockheed said in a statement.

India’s sixth C-130J will be delivered in October, it said.

The six C-130Js will give the Indian Air Force new special operations capabilities using the world’s most advanced airlifter, it said.

The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the venerable Lockheed C0-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems.

The Indian Air Force purchased six C-130J-30s in early 2008 at a cost of up to $1.059 billion. It is a package deal with the US government under its Foreign Military sales programme, and India has retained option to buy six more of these aircraft for its special forces for combined Army-Air Force operations.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report slammed the Ministry of Defence and the Navy for buying war planes that do not have weapons. It also pointed a finger at the Indian Air Force (IAF) for having ‘let off’ three of its officers who caused a loss of Rs 302 crore when a sensitive aerostat radar got damaged.

The CAG, in its report tabled in both Houses of Parliament, said the Indian Navy followed a flawed approach in acquiring its fighter aircraft fleet by not finalising the associated weapon package. The CAG said that 11 out of 16 MiG 29K aircraft, acquired at a cost of $740.35 million (Rs 3,405.61 crore), been delivered in December 2009 and May 2011. No matching armament, for which a contract was signed in March 2006, has been delivered as on October 2010, thereby adversely affecting the operational capabilities of the aircraft.

Further, the Navy has selected a ‘beyond visual range’ (BVR) missile with an unsatisfactory track record. Lastly, the complete armament package finalised for the aircraft contains certain ammunition, worth $20.98 million (Rs 93.68 crore) which did not have the approval of the competent authority.

The MiG 29K is a deck-based fighter meant for seaborne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov). At present, the fighters are based at a land base in Goa as the aircraft carrier itself has not arrived.

The agreement was signed under an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between India and Russia in October 2000 for the procurement of an aircraft carrier along with the MiGs for onboard operations. The Ministry of Defence in January 2004 concluded a contract with Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC-MIG) for procurement of the MiG 29K aircraft. The weapons package was postponed and de-linked from the negotiations for the aircraft.

MOSCOW (PTI): Russia has commenced sea trials of the India Navy’s first of the three advanced stealth frigates in the Baltic Sea which will be delivered by early next year.

INS ‘Teg’, the Project 11356 class frigate, also known as Talwar Class, is first of the three guided missile frigates ordered by the Indian Navy in 2006 under a USD 1.5 billion deal with Russia.

India Navy already operates three such class of stealth frigates and had ordered three more to bolster its fleet.

The two other warships of the same class – INS ‘Tarkash’ (Quiver) and INS ‘Trikand’ (Bow) – are at various stages of construction at the Yantar naval shipyard in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.

The Teg is expected to be delivered to the Indian Navy in the beginning of 2012 to be followed by the Tarkash in the same year and finally the ‘Trikand’ in 2013, according to Yantar shipbuilder.

Initially, Russia was to deliver the three frigates by the end of this year, but due to lack of qualified workforce and problem of networking with sub-vendors the deliveries were delayed.

Earlier in the last decade, Russia’s another Baltiisky Zavod shipyard in St Petersburg had built first three of the stealth frigates – INS Talwar, INS Trishul and INS Tabar.

The new frigates will be armed with the deadly BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missiles, capable of destroying enemy ships and land targets.

In a move that holds great strategic significance, Nato has offered to share its missile defence technology with India to build its capability to shoot down incoming enemy missiles, realising the commonality of threats faced by the 28-nation grouping and South Asia's pre-eminent power.

India, thus, becomes the only nation, apart from Russia, outside of the Nato that the US-led military alliance is willing to work in the critical missile defence technology sector.

The Nato missile defence project, launched in May 2001, aims to work with member-countries to meet the group's responsibility of defending itself from missile attacks. India too is in the process of developing its own ballistic missile defence system based on its Prithvi ballistic missile platform considering the missile threats it faces from rivals in the region.

India detected a Chinese spy ship disguised as a fishing trawler in the Indian Ocean a few months ago. By the time the ship figured on Indian radars, it had operated already for about 22 days and was positioned off-the cost of Little Anadaman - an area which is considered sensitive and crucial in the ongoing battle for supremacy over the Indian Ocean region between India and China.

Immediately after detection, an Indian Navy Ship was sent after it. However, since the Chinese ship was in international waters, no punitive action could be taken against it. The Indian Naval ship, instead, tailed the Chinese ship sending out a clear message that India was aware of its actual mission. In order to avoid the Indian Navy tail, the Chinese Ship moved towards Sri Lanka and docked at the Colombo. Inquiries by the Indian security agencies revealed that ship as many as 22 Laboratories on board.

A report sent up to government, which NDTV has access to, claims that the Chinese ship was mapping the Indian Ocean and picking up crucial Bathymetric data. Other Laboratories on board the ship were designed to collect data on the currents of the Indian Ocean, the temperature at various depths and also very crucially, underwater obstructions and obstacles. Bathymetric data is crucial for submarine and Carrier based operations. Information about ocean currents, on the other hand, is crucial if torpedoes are to be used.

India's assessment is that China will be able to carry out Aircraft carrier based operations by 2017. China doesn't have an operational aircraft carrier yet. The collection of data from the Indian Ocean is designed towards this. Once the Chinese Carrier Battle Group is ready for operations the Indian Ocean region will be one of the main focus areas of China. This will not only help China secure the shipping lanes that carry it's exports towards Europe and North America but protect oil and coal imports. However, the presence of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean region cannot be altogether benign for India. In fact the presence of a Carrier Battle Group in Indian Ocean region is a serious military threat for India. Chinese ground forces already have an edge over their Indian counterparts along the land borders. Chinese naval presence in Indian Ocean region is, therefore, a cause of serious concern for India.

What is also worrying Indian security agencies is the presence several Chinese fishing trawlers along Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast during test launches of missiles. All Indian missiles are tested from Wheeler Islands. Security agencies have told the government that fishing trawlers are most likely monitoring the Indian missile test launches and colleting telemetric data of the missile. Telemetric data is crucial to build effective counter measure against missiles.